The 2 Year Freedom Plan & 2015 Beat The Budget Challenge

I_want_a_baby

Thanks for the update roomontheend!


So as I said before my goals for 2015 are:
Increase emergency fund from £300 to £1000 (£700 needed).
Decrease mortgage from £87116 to £83999 (£3117.21 needed).
Decrease debt from £10662.40 to £4500 (£6162.40 needed).
A TOTAL of £9979.61 needed.


In dribs and drabs over the last couple of weeks I have managed to save £107.43 towards debt repayment.


Also I can report more savings towards this goal with my husbands December pay!


£25 regular savings
£57.48 various budget savings
£6.06 fuel budget not used
£103.89 Christmas underspend!!
£15.00 budget for nappies not needed yet
£27.00 retirement savings being used for debt.
£234.43


These savings were split as follows:


£55 trf to emergency fund
£45 overpayment to mortgage
£134.43 to debt savings


Meaning my totals saved so far are:


£55/£700 Emergency Fund

£45/£3117.21 Mortgage
£241.91/£6162.40 Debt

£341.91/£9979.61 TOTAL (3.43% Saved)



Really happy with this! What a start to 2015!

I_want_a_baby

Focusing on the little things I can do each day to save the pennies and live more mindfully. Ultimately I can only save big chunks on husbands payday so I need to do the little things daily to keep the savings adding up!

Today so far I have:
Washed two loads of washing (and another in now). All full loads washed on the quickest full cycle using half the recommended laundry liquid and fabric conditioner.
Put both finished loads on the washing line (let's hope it dries!).
Made plans for lunch boxes using what we have -pitta breads, 6 bread rolls in the freezer and some Cornish pasties in the freezer.
Having a NSD.
Wrote down the water and electric meter reads which have both recently been billed, will start reading them regularly to monitor usage.
Used up 4 strawberries and the grapes rolling round at the bottom of the punnet rather than waste them.
Tea from freezer - sausage and stuffing plait with homemade mash & beans.
Put £40 cash into the food purse for the week ahead.
Found £1 on top of the microwave - put it into the sealed tin.
Started tidying the children's rooms, put away half of the toys out of sight and they seem less overwhelmed and are playing lovely.
Checked an asda receipt for price comparison (was cheaper).
Husband filled car up at the cheapest fuel garage as he was in that town anyway.
He remembered to use the nectar card and on checking the receipt I have £11.08 to spend!

Awaiting a delivery today which was an order placed with some Christmas money. I am far too excited for it! There is a pan steamer set, some thick gardening gloves, a white wicker bin for our bedroom (to replace a horrible plastic one) and a few pieces of stationery.

It is such a beautiful day here in wiltshire, I have a spring in my step today!

IWAB x

I_want_a_baby

£10.32 Interest received
£40.00 Quidco cashback
£42.46 Child tax credits

All transferred to debt savings.

Somehow I have managed to miscalculate my mortgage balance which means I need to save an extra £500 this year to reach my goal! :-(

Standard debt repayment of £300 has come out.

I've corrected my spreadsheet and the current balances are:

£55/£700 Emergency Fund

£5.07/£3117.21 Mortgage (interest still to be added so the £5.07 already saved is likely to end up as -£285!)
£535.20/£6162.40 Debt

£595.27/£9979.61 TOTAL (5.96% Saved)

Good job this is the most frugal year ever!

IWAB

I_want_a_baby

Savings going really well here :-)

I've modified my goals after reading Dave Ramseys website. I now have long term goals of:

1- save £1000 emergency fund
2- pay off all debt
3- increase emergency fund to £12000
4- regularly save 15% of income between pension/savings for retirement.
5- pay off mortgage.

Which means my 2015 goals are:
Increase emergency fund to £1000 (as at 1/1/15 £700 needed).
Decrease debt to £4000 (as at 1/1/15 £6662.40 needed).
Plus 5 x £100 savings for small things needed this year.
Total to save at 1/1/15 = £7862.40

I have included my savings so far this year (as per my diary) plus more savings I've made.

As at today's date 12/1/15 I have £878.62 saved towards these goals which is 11.17%!

I don't think I will have much to save between now and payday - this is always the lean part of the month but if possible I would like to get up to 12%.

On top of these goals I need to find £21 for felt for a log/coal store my husband is making and £150 for polythene for our new poly tunnel (got the poles for free). I currently have £11 saved for this.

Hopefully I will find small savings by:
Spending less than budget on food
Possibly making it to the end of the month without putting more fuel in either of the cars - could save up to £40 of leftover budget.
Small pennies to be saved from differences between budget and direct debits.
Difference between rental income and mortgage/landlord subscription.

Let see how far I can make our pennies stretch and how many pounds I can save :-)

IWAB x

Muser1

Great diary as always IWAB!

I_want_a_baby

Thank you Muser!

I see you are saving a £1000 emergency fund too! Good luck x

Almost had a disaster, took some bananas out of the fridge to make banana cake, decided to make two to make best use of my time and the oven being on. The kids were playing up and ended up doubling up the wrong number and using 4oz less of flour than I should do. However it is still edible but slightly stodgy. So will still be used up.

Tonight will be spent watching TV and mending some maternity pj bottoms, a dressing gown and an all in one snowsuit, all have holes in them!

IWAB x

Muser1

Thanku I'm quite enjoying the 1k challenge it feels achievable and not too daunting!

I_want_a_baby

One of my aims this year is to spend more on food! I want to be much more mindful of what we are putting into our bodies.

Approximately 80-90% of our fruit and veg will be homegrown, we have erected a poly tunnel (need to save up for the polythene), we have lots of fruit trees, fruit bushes and a big veg plot for everything else.

The rest of our food will be bought at the local market, the local butcher and waitrose plus our milk delivery.

It is important to us to put good quality food in our bodies, eat less but better and reduce the amount of junk (homemade goodies don't count ). I did our first shop today as was actually surprised by how reasonable waitrose is, no where near as expensive as it'd imagined. A nicer place to shop and on the whole a lot less temptations.

I will try and meal plan around the weeks offers to get the best value still.

I am still using up the contents of the freezer and cupboards which will help to start but I plan to stretch our meals, make them as healthy as possible and enjoy eating better!

IWAB x

I_want_a_baby

Had a good day today!

Updated bank/budget spreadsheet, hoping to save a few more £s soon.
Worked out how we can increase food budget to eat better (any unspent budget will go into savings).
Received account paperwork for first direct switch.
Received account paperwork for halifax switch.
Received email about energy transfer.
No spend day
Worked out food budgets for rest of month, working on the basis of 5 x £50 per week (on the 4 week months I will use the £50 to get household items, toiletries, stock up on offers or meat).
Counted up my cash budgets for the rest of my frugal month £3 left of food budget until next weds, £50 for the last week of the month & £30 in the bulk buy purse.
Kids had tea and pudding at mums.
Came home with 5 slices of pizza for hubby's lunch box and a cupcake for him too.
Made homemade coleslaw rather than buy it.
Made homemade bread rather than buy it.
Stuck to the meal plan.

All in all a good day :-)

IWAB x

lucielle

Should that be the 5 week months?
L